Evening Star - Chapter Two

Chapter Two - Vesper

Story by Cameron Worth

Reading by Lisa Snoeks

The Amsterdam nightlife has been something I’ve been around for a while now, but I still haven’t gotten used to it. After exchanging here from my quiet home in Denmark, life here has required adaptation on my part. Amsterdam is a beautiful city. I was drawn here by my passion for art. There is a wonderful school here in Amsterdam called Rietveld where some of my favorite artists and pieces come from. I’m delighted to be able to go here, even if my art form can be seen as slightly outlandish sometimes as most of my work is street art. Growing up, I spray-painted walls all over Denmark attempting to imitate my favorite artists only using brick and stone as my canvas. It became a signature thing and while I find all art amazing, I was able to find a canvas more suited to me to tell my story through my paintings.

School life can be rather stressful sometimes but I’ve met a nice group of ladies that have grown into good friends over the last year and they see to it that I unwind and have fun in a city where there’s much to be had. In fact tonight, after a stressful week of lectures and deadlines, they were taking me out to a local club called Amon which has gained a lot of popularity after opening only recently. I dreaded going in the back of my mind but my friends we’re quite persistent in reminding me how uptight I am. There was some truth to it. Parties and dancing sounded much less appealing than grabbing my sketchbook and working on ideas for my next piece. They are lovely friends. I met the three of them; Claire, Sofie and Lena at Rietvelt, although not as passionate about art as the next place to have a good time, I enjoyed that about them since most of the time they felt like a much needed counterbalance.

As we got ready to make our way to club, I felt like everyone’s eyes seemed to hang on me for a little longer than usual. “Are you excited, Ves? You look like as grouchy as usual.” Sofie said slyly. Right then I knew that this trip to the club was a little more than just a ladies’ night out. “I’m excited. It’s just hard to breathe when the air is now a mixture of four different perfumes.” The other girls joined in on what I knew was only the beginning of tonight’s torment. “You look great Vesper!” all three squealed in unison. “Uh thanks everyone. So are you three going to tell me what you’re plotting.” They looked at each other with a hint of disappointment. “Look Ves, we just think you need to relax a bit. You’re so stressed all the time that we just want you to have fun.” Sofie said with what I could tell was genuine concern. Lena reached over and put her hand on my shoulder. “We think you should try to find a guy too. We just don’t want you to be lonely, sweetheart.” I was a bit surprised by that notion. “What do you mean lonely? I have you three.” All three of them laughed in unison, which I was starting to find a little creepy at this point. “Let’s just head out and see what happens tonight. Just keep an open mind will you?” Claire nudged at me with a sinister smile. “Fine, open mind it is then.” I muttered with obvious annoyance in my voice. We left the apartment and took the short walk to Club Amon, feeling a bit jittery about what exactly tonight had in store for me.

We arrived at the club in no time at all. The club was conveniently less than a mile away from our apartment. This was also much to my relief so I could endure as little harassing small talk as possible. “This looks a lot bigger than I thought it would be.” I mentioned to the girls. Sofie looked at me with joyful eyes. “Isn’t it just amazing? Don’t get too drunk Ves!” I nudged her forward, “Shut up and let’s go.” I said as I noticed myself feeling more and more irritated. Moving closer do the entrance, the first thing I noticed was the bouncer. He was quite large, probably more so than I expected a bouncer to be but what I found more out of the ordinary was his red shaded eyes. “Hey Lena” I called out quietly. “What’s with his fancy colored eyes?” She leaned in closer. “I think that’s the theme of the club. I’ve noticed quite a few people with colored contacts” she motioned towards someone down the alleyway next to the club with glowing red eyes. “That’s actually kind of cool.” I said with a bit of a squeal. “I knew you’d like that!” Lena squealed back with happiness over my excitement. We were next in line to enter and the bouncer stopped us before letting us in. He didn’t say a word but instead looked us up and down as if inspecting us. He then made a strange motion as if to sniff the air. After passing whatever odd test that was, he unchained the rope and motioned us inside. “That was unusual.” I said but it was already too loud in the club for my friends to hear me in a normal tone. There was a DJ at the very front of the club playing electronic music which I’ve grown to like a little bit more after being dragged around the club scene by the girls. There was a balcony surrounding the edges of the dancefloor where people were dancing against the railing and a hallway near the back which was roped off with two bouncers standing on either side. “Vesper, would you stop analyzing and come to the bar?” Claire said loudly in my ear. She grabbed my hand and dragged me over to the bar. Claire ordered four martinis and as we got the drinks, I could feel all 3 sets of their eyes locked on me. “You guys can’t stare at me all night, this is silly.” I shouted without looking their way. Luckily this time I couldn’t hear their synchronized cackles over the music. Almost as if they summoned him, a young guy, probably barely passable of an age to get in here, approached the bar and stood a bit uncomfortable close to me. As soon as I brought my attention away from his presence, I look to see Claire smile and wave at me as my three ‘friends’ disappear into the large dance crowd. Infuriated but not surprised, I look down and stir my drink with anger, noticing the guy next to me has been staring the entire time. “You probably would enjoy that more if you drank it. Can I get you another one?” He said as he turned to face me with his chest too obviously pushed out and his shoulders awkwardly widened in a flex of some sort. I looked at him with the most disgusted look I could muster. “If that’s your best pick-up line, I’ll pray for the girl that falls for it.” I said menacingly as I got up and left the bar, leaving him with a pained look on his face.

The music seemed to be getting louder as the night progressed and after my friends ditching me for what they probably assumed were noble reasons, I decided not to search the dance floor for them. I noticed a doorway on the far end of the club with a sign indicating that it was cocktail lounge. Yearning for a bit of quiet from the music and maybe another drink or two, I started towards the doors. I did one last scan of the dancefloor area to see if I could notice the girls, but the crowd was very large and if they were still there, I didn’t want to go through the effort of finding them. I glanced up towards the balcony one last time, to notice that everyone that was dancing up there previously had left and one lone person exiting from the roped off area. I shrugged to myself and made way slowly to the cocktail lounge, sipping my drink and deciding that I would still try to enjoy my night the best I could.

I walked into the lounge and much to my relief, there was but a few people and the music was muffled enough to be unnoticeable. I walked up the bar and the bartender, with glowing red eyes smiled at me. “Another martini, my dear?” he said pointing to my empty glass with the olive still remaining. I smiled back and nodded. “I’m not really a fan of the music. I enjoy the peace and quiet as well.” He said with oddly welcoming eyes and an even odder smile, looking as if he just stumbled upon treasure. “I apologize, I’m a bit irritated and not feeling very talkative I’m afraid.” I said softly with honest remorse. He leaned in a bit closer to me. “Well, if you’re looking to leave, I know of a…” he stopped mid-sentence and his gaze shot away from me and back to the glass he was polishing, as if he had just seen a ghost. “Are you okay?” I said as I went to reach out to him but before lifting my hand, I felt a gentle grasp on my shoulder and heard a soft voice call out “E..Emilia?” I turned around quickly to see a tall young looking man, with shoulder length brown hair and large glowing yellow colored eyes looking at me with an appearance of concern. Stunned by him, I was unable to make but a few quiet sounds instead of responding to him. After looking into my eyes for a few seconds he blinked quickly as if confused and slowly formed a smile on his face. “I apologize, miss. I believe I’ve mistaken you for someone else.” He said to me as I still stand motionless. His voice was calm and warm and his gaze was both welcoming and strangely comforting. “I’m sorry for disturbing you, please enjoy your night.” He spoke this time a little more quickly and left quickly towards the door. Snapping out of my stupor, I reached out to him and whimpered “Wait…” only it was so quiet that I’m not sure that I even heard it. Standing there, I looked around as I gathered myself, noticing the bartender’s look of horror as he put the same glass down and walked into the back room. Without my thoughts returning to focus, I hurried towards the door to possibly catch up with him. I ran through the doors and looked around quick and carefully but much to my disappointment, he was nowhere to be found. Instead, Claire, Lena and Sofie walked towards me without me noticing. “Hey, are you okay?” Claire said as she touched my arm. I looked at her with divided attention. “Yeah, yeah I’m fine of course, what’s going on?” I said trying to sound calm. Claire looked at me with her usual glare of excitement. “We got invited to a party, cute guy. Are you coming?” I looked at her and tried my best to seem tired. “I’m probably going to head back to the apartment. See you guys there later?” I looked hopeful that they would accept and in unison they slightly frowned, nodded and headed towards the club entrance.

After wandering the club for a while, trying to look casual as I hoped to spot the man from earlier, I gave up and headed towards the entrance to leave as well. With an unshakable feeling of sadness that I couldn’t figure out, I left through the doors and turned to begin my walk home. Before making it far, I heard the same dark but soft voice from earlier as I crossed the alleyway next to the bar. I looked down to see him, the captivating man from earlier, talking to another person under a light in the alley. With an overwhelming sense of inexplicable joy with a mixture of fear, I jumped back from the open and pressed myself against the wall, out of sight from them. I listened closely, as I tried to figure a way to approach him. “I’m not sure if I’m up to this tonight.” he said to the other person that had a look of concern on his face. “I’m not sure if I follow. What the hell is up with you, Sebastian?” he replied to him. I smiled widely at the first sound of his name. “Sebastian” I whispered to myself. I listened further out of uncontrollable feeling of curiosity. “I just saw a woman in there that I could have sworn was Emilia.” I thought back to when he first approached me and I remembered that was the name he spoke. He was talking about me. “Sebastian, I can’t begin to understand the pain you’ve been in all this time, but tonight is the night you need to focus most. I don’t need to remind you that you’re on very thin ice do I?” I peeked around the corner to see him looking up towards the moon in what looked like a trance. “No, I need no reminder. The one he’s looking for is in the Red Room. I’ll take care of it.” He said to the other, receiving a nod in response and both began to leave towards the back of alley. Impulsively I jumped from around the corner fearful of losing sight of him again. “Sebastian?” I called out loudly enough that I knew he’d hear. His gaze snapped quickly towards me in what looked like fear. The other person was even more wide-eyed and horrified than he was. Sebastian motioned to the other to leave and he walked slowly toward me. I could feel my legs tremble beneath me as he approached me and I wasn’t sure exactly what I was going to say. “Hello again, I’m quite sorry for earlier.” I tried to not get lost in his words as I thought of my best reply. “Oh please don’t apologize. You just looked startled.” He smiled as he looked into my eyes. His smile sent dancing tingles up and down my spine. “I hope I didn’t worry you. I see introductions aren’t exactly needed. Yes, my name is Sebastian. What do I call you, my dear?” He spoke with such articulation that it was difficult to not seem enthralled by his words. “My name is Vesper.” I said confidently as I started to feel more comfortable and the trembling began to calm. A look of intrigue showed in his glowing yellow eyes. Perhaps he enjoyed the colored contact theme as well. “Vesper… Like the Evening Star. How lovely!” he said with a tone of joy. “You know the meaning? Most people don’t!” I said loudly with surprise. His expression turned into a look of concern. “I must confess, you do resemble someone I once knew. It is a bit startling.” he said before his expression changed back to one of happiness. “I’m a believer in fate, whether it be tragic or beautiful. It seems fate has gifted me with beauty on this night.” His words entranced me and I stood motionless as I felt myself getting lost in his eyes. I reached for his arm without thought, almost as a reflex in response to the warmth he brought with his voice. “I guess I can start believing in fate too.” I said to him, Sebastian, this mysterious man that I met only moments ago. He looked away from me and back towards the alley for a second before stepping closer. “I’m afraid that there’s a matter that requires my attention. It would make me very happy to see you again, if you wish of course.” I resisted the urge to jump into arms right then and tried to keep calm in my reply. “I would love that. Here I can give you my number.” I reached to pull out my phone but he put his hand on mine to stop me. “If you believe that fate brought us together tonight, believe that it will bring us together again.” The trembling returned at the sensation of his touch. “O…okay” I whispered as it was the only word that I could barely even muster. “Until next time, Evening Star” he reached out and brushed the hair out of my eyes but quickly pulled his hand back as if receiving a shock. A smile slowly appeared on his face, like when first I seen him and he left towards the back of the alley.

I stayed in that spot frozen in thought for a few minutes after he left. Something about Sebastian felt different. He stirred a feeling inside me that I’ve never known or felt and at the same time I knew almost nothing about him. I walked back to my apartment walking so slowly and distracted that a 10 minute walk turned into an hour. Opening the door and entering the apartment, my friends looked jumped up to greet me at the door. “Ves, where have you been? We’ve been calling you for hours.” The three said in the same creepy synchronization. “I’m okay, I’m okay.” I assured them. Claire leaned in close in curiosity. “I’ve never seen you smile like that. You met someone didn’t you?” I looked at Claire and laughed. “I’m going to bed. Tell ya all about it in the morning.” Their lingering smiles lasted until I closed the door to my bedroom. I jumped quickly in bed with my mind racing as I fall asleep smiling to myself thinking about the next time I meet Sebastian.